Canadians will also say "a-LUM-inum" rather than "alu-MINI-um" - one of the few times we side with the Yankees on both spelling and pronunciation over our British chums.
As for the Aussies and Kiwis, you'll have to ask them yourself. But I suspect they'll go with the British version.
"...loose your apetite before you even unwrap it!"
I guess if you loosed your appetite on an unwrapped sandwich, you'd end up eating the whole thing wrapper and all! An amusing picture, even if you meant to type "lose" and suggest the opposite.:)
"I don't know how new this is seeing that Apple has been selling all the Harry Potter books in iTunes since the nano launch. I am assuming thier in MP3 format."
They are in AAC format and (unfortunately) encumbered with DRM. They're also ridiculously expensive. But a friend of mine downloaded the same books in MP3 format off a peer-to-peer network.
"On the same topic, who is getting ripped off when I, you, or your neighbor downloads a book..."
No one. And I think there are certainly ways distributing audiobooks via MP3s can be profitable.
"Anyone know who is going to sue me for downloading an Audio Book?"
No one is going to sue you. How would anyone even know what you download off Usenet? And why would they sue you?
You sound like a troll. You do web testing, and you don't know the difference between Firefox's flaws and IE's flaws?
When I used IE, I got worms and viruses through it that infected all the machines on my network and caused data loss. I got browser helper objects and toolbars installed without my permission. I had my home page and error pages hacked. I got pop-up windows and malware installed on my computer.
None of that ever happened from any Firefox bug or exploit.
Oh yeah, and the minor rendering errors in Safari or Firefox are *nothing* compared to the awfulness that is IE.
"If something such as AIDs became airborne, it would probably be a pretty safe assumption the human race would almost die."
Depends what you mean about "almost". About 15% of Caucasians are immune to AIDS, thanks to a gene that can be traced back to the Black Plague. I remember hearing about the discovery in China of a single Chinese individual with the gene as well; but apart from that, AIDS immunity is unknown in non-Caucasians.
"My wife and I watched 'Lost' from iTunes last night (rather than torrent the missed episode) on our television. Compared to the free torrents, the quality $2 iTunes download was extremely bad."
I don't really get that. People have been saying for a while now, that if someone (Apple, the TV networks, whoever) just offered official downloads of their shows at a good price and good quality, people would be all over it. And Steve Jobs showed with iTMS that the secret to success is to treat peer-to-peer filesharing as competition, and beat it with quality and convenience. TV via iTMS is clearly not trying hard in that department.
So I guess I'll keep downloading the weekly high-quality, HDTV version of Lost that appears on the Internet each week. After all, I can't get it on TV where I live. I'd gladly pay the network $1 a week to download it from them or iTMS instead, at equal or better quality; but that's not an option.
"desperately fighting tooth and nail to stop the on-going erosion of rights waged by the government"
I find it interesting that you say that, and yet, from your extolling of welfare-state socialism, you oppose my right to keep the money I earn from my own hard work. I'd rather have that freedom than the freedom to sponsor corrupt politicians.
What's funny is that Microsoft's MSN department actually built a new highly standards-compliant web browser from the ground up for their proprietary MSN browser. It even ran on both Windows and OS X. If Microsoft was smart, they'd put that engine into IE7; but instead, the MSN browser seems to have been abandoned.
It doesn't matter. First sale doctrine says you can re-sell anything someone else has sold to you. That includes your software, no matter what some silly sticker on your computer says. The only party facing any restrictions is Dell; their contract with Microsoft says they have to bundle the cheap OEM version of Windows with a computer and not sell it separately. The user is free to do with his copy as he wishes.
The standards are always expanding. New approved and proposed features and technologies are being proposed to the standards committees. A browser like Firefox, which is under constant development and unafraid to test new features, will always be a better, more advanced web platform for developers and tech-savvy users. The dynamic, open attitude of Apple's Safari team also results in that app being a cutting edge browser. The two are different, though; Safari is more focused on the best possible user experience, while Firefox gives you great flexibility with its extensions.
IE, on the other hand, is produced by a sluggish software bureaucracy known to let its flagship browser go years for a time without improvement. Even if Microsoft tries to follow web standards, IE 7 a year from now will be a less complete browser than Firefox or Safari are today.
We will never reach a point with any browser where we have all the web standards implemented and there's nothing more to be done.
Some people apparently use Acrobat because it can handle PDF forms and a few other rarely-used PDF features. However, I prefer to use PDFpen when I need advanced PDF features. It's a good Mac-only app that doesn't modify your system at all.
Good question. I don't know of an EULA ever standing up in court, and I have heard that courts have found them invalid in most US states.
My guess is: 1. EULAs are a bullying tactic, since even the threat of a lawsuit means an immediate win for any corporation over an individual. 2. Corporations like to feel that they're in control of their customers, and EULAs feed this fantasy. 3. EULAs are aimed to soften up the public, so that one day when new laws take away our freedom to use our own property, people won't object. They'll think it's always been that way.
What's certain, though, is that EULAs, are not connected to copyright laws, and the GPL is a child of copyright.
I'm just one datapoint, but I sure hated Windows. I knew it, and I used it for ages, but I also fought it and struggled with it, watched it trash my data, fill my hard disk with clutter, cover my desktop with pop-up windows and spyware.
I tried Linux for half a year, really tried to like it. Ended up with a Mac, and now I like using a computer again.
Heh, and Windows is even worse once you've used OS X.
"I don't see any limitation in copyright law which makes a "viral" EULA work any less than the GPL."
That's because EULAs aren't supported by copyright law at all. Copyright by definition has nothing to do with use, only *copying*. I know of no laws in any country that let a buyer or distributor dictate how his merchandise must be used.
"Running a program in a public server is not distribution; it is public use. We're looking at an approach where programs used in this way will have to include a command for the user to download the source for the version that is running."
I don't think it's possible. As even RMS notes, running a program constitutes use, not distribution, and no "copyright license" can tell you how to use your software. Additionally, it's against the spirit of free software.
"Before they sue anyone, simply have one of their employees download a few songs to their private PC from the defendant's system."
But if the RIAA owns the copyrights to those songs (or acts as an agent of the copyright holders), then uploading a file to an RIAA member isn't infringement, is it?
Moreover, in such an instance, the RIAA would be participating and even encouraging the distribution. You can't sue someone for behaviour you incited, can you?
"And I also somehow doubt 55 Mbps is everywhere in Japan as you make it sound to be."
It's offered by Yahoo Broadband, available nation-wide as far as I know. Other DSL companies here have similar packages. I'm not even in one of Japan's biggest cities.
It's great that people are starting to see "intellectual property" is just another way for corporations and crooks to control people's data and behaviour once the product leaves the producer's hands. Most of the examples given could come true, and we'd have all the corporate shills telling us that Walmart's pasta sauce is "licensed" and not sold, or some such nonsense.
Here in Japan, I have 55 megabit fiber DSL. I'm still getting used to it. I can multiple download files at 1 MB/sec (that's megabyte, not megabit), and that's when there's a bottleneck at the other end.:)
Oddly enough, I think Apple's Textedit is the only application out there that supports Microsoft's new XML format so far. Microsoft's own products don't yet.
"The Japanese writing system is complicated: two different sets of ideograms plus a set of phonetic symbols. I think this may mean that the difference in input speed between a regular keyboard and the phone keypad is considerably less in Japanese than in a language that uses the [Western] alphabet."
You're close but a little bit off. Japanese has two syllabaries, and they represent the same sound combinations. This is a bit like our alphabet having two versions of each letter - uppercase and lowercase. Japanese also uses 2000 or so Chinese ideograms (kanji).
On a Japanese cell phone, each number key has a few syllable characters marked on it, and pressing it a few times gets a Japanese person the desired character. That's not so different from North American phones. But where an English word can be 6-10 letters long, most Japanese characters are 1-3 syllables, so somewhat less typing is involved. Once a word is entered, the software substitutes the right kanji (if any are needed).
For a Japanese person, this can be less awkward than qwerty input on a computer keyboard, which involves an extra step: inputing Roman letters, which turn into Japanese syllables, which turn into kanji as needed.
Part of the reason the iPod works so well and has such a responsive interface is that it keeps a detailed database of all the MP3s and playlists stored on it. This database has to be updated each time you add songs to the iPod, which means you need to use iTunes or a third-party application to transfer the songs over.
Otherwise, the iPod just acts like a Firewire hard disk - which it is, when it's hooked up to your computer.
Ticket revenues in nominal dollars are increasing. If you adjust for inflation, the increase is less impressive.
However, if you read the quote, it says ticket sales are declining. That is true. Number of tickets sold, not number of dollars paid. In fact, this summer was the worst summer for ticket sales (number of tickets sold) since 1997.
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Canadians will also say "a-LUM-inum" rather than "alu-MINI-um" - one of the few times we side with the Yankees on both spelling and pronunciation over our British chums.
As for the Aussies and Kiwis, you'll have to ask them yourself. But I suspect they'll go with the British version.
"...loose your apetite before you even unwrap it!"
:)
I guess if you loosed your appetite on an unwrapped sandwich, you'd end up eating the whole thing wrapper and all! An amusing picture, even if you meant to type "lose" and suggest the opposite.
"I don't know how new this is seeing that Apple has been selling all the Harry Potter books in iTunes since the nano launch. I am assuming thier in MP3 format."
They are in AAC format and (unfortunately) encumbered with DRM. They're also ridiculously expensive. But a friend of mine downloaded the same books in MP3 format off a peer-to-peer network.
"On the same topic, who is getting ripped off when I, you, or your neighbor downloads a book..."
No one. And I think there are certainly ways distributing audiobooks via MP3s can be profitable.
"Anyone know who is going to sue me for downloading an Audio Book?"
No one is going to sue you. How would anyone even know what you download off Usenet? And why would they sue you?
You sound like a troll. You do web testing, and you don't know the difference between Firefox's flaws and IE's flaws?
When I used IE, I got worms and viruses through it that infected all the machines on my network and caused data loss. I got browser helper objects and toolbars installed without my permission. I had my home page and error pages hacked. I got pop-up windows and malware installed on my computer.
None of that ever happened from any Firefox bug or exploit.
Oh yeah, and the minor rendering errors in Safari or Firefox are *nothing* compared to the awfulness that is IE.
"If something such as AIDs became airborne, it would probably be a pretty safe assumption the human race would almost die."
Depends what you mean about "almost". About 15% of Caucasians are immune to AIDS, thanks to a gene that can be traced back to the Black Plague. I remember hearing about the discovery in China of a single Chinese individual with the gene as well; but apart from that, AIDS immunity is unknown in non-Caucasians.
"My wife and I watched 'Lost' from iTunes last night (rather than torrent the missed episode) on our television. Compared to the free torrents, the quality $2 iTunes download was extremely bad."
I don't really get that. People have been saying for a while now, that if someone (Apple, the TV networks, whoever) just offered official downloads of their shows at a good price and good quality, people would be all over it. And Steve Jobs showed with iTMS that the secret to success is to treat peer-to-peer filesharing as competition, and beat it with quality and convenience. TV via iTMS is clearly not trying hard in that department.
So I guess I'll keep downloading the weekly high-quality, HDTV version of Lost that appears on the Internet each week. After all, I can't get it on TV where I live. I'd gladly pay the network $1 a week to download it from them or iTMS instead, at equal or better quality; but that's not an option.
"desperately fighting tooth and nail to stop the on-going erosion of rights waged by the government"
I find it interesting that you say that, and yet, from your extolling of welfare-state socialism, you oppose my right to keep the money I earn from my own hard work. I'd rather have that freedom than the freedom to sponsor corrupt politicians.
What's funny is that Microsoft's MSN department actually built a new highly standards-compliant web browser from the ground up for their proprietary MSN browser. It even ran on both Windows and OS X. If Microsoft was smart, they'd put that engine into IE7; but instead, the MSN browser seems to have been abandoned.
It doesn't matter. First sale doctrine says you can re-sell anything someone else has sold to you. That includes your software, no matter what some silly sticker on your computer says. The only party facing any restrictions is Dell; their contract with Microsoft says they have to bundle the cheap OEM version of Windows with a computer and not sell it separately. The user is free to do with his copy as he wishes.
The standards are always expanding. New approved and proposed features and technologies are being proposed to the standards committees. A browser like Firefox, which is under constant development and unafraid to test new features, will always be a better, more advanced web platform for developers and tech-savvy users. The dynamic, open attitude of Apple's Safari team also results in that app being a cutting edge browser. The two are different, though; Safari is more focused on the best possible user experience, while Firefox gives you great flexibility with its extensions.
IE, on the other hand, is produced by a sluggish software bureaucracy known to let its flagship browser go years for a time without improvement. Even if Microsoft tries to follow web standards, IE 7 a year from now will be a less complete browser than Firefox or Safari are today.
We will never reach a point with any browser where we have all the web standards implemented and there's nothing more to be done.
Some people apparently use Acrobat because it can handle PDF forms and a few other rarely-used PDF features. However, I prefer to use PDFpen when I need advanced PDF features. It's a good Mac-only app that doesn't modify your system at all.
"they've got too much too loose"
:)
Could I borrow some o's? You seem to have a few too many.
"why does anyone pay any heed to EULAs at all?"
Good question. I don't know of an EULA ever standing up in court, and I have heard that courts have found them invalid in most US states.
My guess is:
1. EULAs are a bullying tactic, since even the threat of a lawsuit means an immediate win for any corporation over an individual.
2. Corporations like to feel that they're in control of their customers, and EULAs feed this fantasy.
3. EULAs are aimed to soften up the public, so that one day when new laws take away our freedom to use our own property, people won't object. They'll think it's always been that way.
What's certain, though, is that EULAs, are not connected to copyright laws, and the GPL is a child of copyright.
I'm just one datapoint, but I sure hated Windows. I knew it, and I used it for ages, but I also fought it and struggled with it, watched it trash my data, fill my hard disk with clutter, cover my desktop with pop-up windows and spyware.
I tried Linux for half a year, really tried to like it. Ended up with a Mac, and now I like using a computer again.
Heh, and Windows is even worse once you've used OS X.
"I don't see any limitation in copyright law which makes a "viral" EULA work any less than the GPL."
That's because EULAs aren't supported by copyright law at all. Copyright by definition has nothing to do with use, only *copying*. I know of no laws in any country that let a buyer or distributor dictate how his merchandise must be used.
Here's what RMS said:
"Running a program in a public server is not distribution; it is public use. We're looking at an approach where programs used in this way will have to include a command for the user to download the source for the version that is running."
I don't think it's possible. As even RMS notes, running a program constitutes use, not distribution, and no "copyright license" can tell you how to use your software. Additionally, it's against the spirit of free software.
"Before they sue anyone, simply have one of their employees download a few songs to their private PC from the defendant's system."
But if the RIAA owns the copyrights to those songs (or acts as an agent of the copyright holders), then uploading a file to an RIAA member isn't infringement, is it?
Moreover, in such an instance, the RIAA would be participating and even encouraging the distribution. You can't sue someone for behaviour you incited, can you?
"And I also somehow doubt 55 Mbps is everywhere in Japan as you make it sound to be."
It's offered by Yahoo Broadband, available nation-wide as far as I know. Other DSL companies here have similar packages. I'm not even in one of Japan's biggest cities.
It's great that people are starting to see "intellectual property" is just another way for corporations and crooks to control people's data and behaviour once the product leaves the producer's hands. Most of the examples given could come true, and we'd have all the corporate shills telling us that Walmart's pasta sauce is "licensed" and not sold, or some such nonsense.
Here in Japan, I have 55 megabit fiber DSL. I'm still getting used to it. I can multiple download files at 1 MB/sec (that's megabyte, not megabit), and that's when there's a bottleneck at the other end. :)
Curious question: what browser and OS are you using? That text rendering looks ... like it needs a lot of work. :)
Oddly enough, I think Apple's Textedit is the only application out there that supports Microsoft's new XML format so far. Microsoft's own products don't yet.
"The Japanese writing system is complicated: two different sets of ideograms plus a set of phonetic symbols. I think this may mean that the difference in input speed between a regular keyboard and the phone keypad is considerably less in Japanese than in a language that uses the [Western] alphabet."
You're close but a little bit off. Japanese has two syllabaries, and they represent the same sound combinations. This is a bit like our alphabet having two versions of each letter - uppercase and lowercase. Japanese also uses 2000 or so Chinese ideograms (kanji).
On a Japanese cell phone, each number key has a few syllable characters marked on it, and pressing it a few times gets a Japanese person the desired character. That's not so different from North American phones. But where an English word can be 6-10 letters long, most Japanese characters are 1-3 syllables, so somewhat less typing is involved. Once a word is entered, the software substitutes the right kanji (if any are needed).
For a Japanese person, this can be less awkward than qwerty input on a computer keyboard, which involves an extra step: inputing Roman letters, which turn into Japanese syllables, which turn into kanji as needed.
Part of the reason the iPod works so well and has such a responsive interface is that it keeps a detailed database of all the MP3s and playlists stored on it. This database has to be updated each time you add songs to the iPod, which means you need to use iTunes or a third-party application to transfer the songs over.
Otherwise, the iPod just acts like a Firewire hard disk - which it is, when it's hooked up to your computer.
Ticket revenues in nominal dollars are increasing. If you adjust for inflation, the increase is less impressive.
However, if you read the quote, it says ticket sales are declining. That is true. Number of tickets sold, not number of dollars paid. In fact, this summer was the worst summer for ticket sales (number of tickets sold) since 1997.